The next Halloween film has been delayed for refiguring

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

It's been a tough week for two of horror's biggest slasher icons. First came the bad news that Paramount Pictures has pushed back the release date (for the third time) of the new FRIDAY THE 13TH, and now producer Malek Akkad has revealed to Daily Dead's Heather Wixson that the next HALLOWEEN movie, HALLOWEEN RETURNS, is also being delayed.

The hold-up on Jason Voorhees' latest cinematic outing seems to be uncertainty over what type of approach should be taken to the material, and it sounds like Michael Myers is experiencing the same sort of troubles.

HALLOWEEN RETURNS is being written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, with Dunstan also signed on to direct the film. While Akkad fully supports the duo's ideas for the franchise "recalibration", he implies that the studio hasn't been in agreement with them, so the project is now being refigured.

…this new Halloween isn’t going to be quite what has been announced and what people are expecting, so we’re making some changes there as well.

But, Akkad says, don't let this news bum you out too much, becuase "It's only going to be resulting in a better film."

We had heard that HALLOWEEN RETURNS would 

pit a new group of Haddonfield youngsters against Myers. The now 18-year-old child of one of Myers’ victims plays a central role along with the child of a cop who has long been obsessed with Myers’ case, even putting it before his own daughter.

Myers is now on Death Row and the two kids with their own personal vendettas against the killer sneak in to watch his execution. But when things go awry and Myers escapes, the pair, along with their friends, find themselves in the firing line.

There had also been talk that the movie would be returning to the continuity of the original HALLOWEEN and HALLOWEEN II, with the character of Gary Hunt returning from the 1981 sequel.

We'll have to wait and see how much of this, if any of it, makes it into the version of the film that goes into production.

A release date for HALLOWEEN RETURNS had never been announced, which seems like a smart move now.

The HALLOWEEN remake's Scout Taylor-Compton